By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during a Mass celebrating the 100th anniversary of the University of Miami. The Mass was celebrated at the Shalala Student Center April 11, 2025.
Congratulations. 100 years is a milestone to be celebrated, especially in South Florida, where everything seems to have been built the day before yesterday. And it is no coincidence that the University of Miami and the City of Coral Gables are both 100 years old. An institution like a university is a great amenity in any community. Coral Gables and Greater Miami would not be what they are without the University of Miami. Anchor stores in malls assured the success of the smaller stores, (at least before Amazon and the internet). The University of Miami has played and still plays a similar role in the broader community. People move here, companies invest here, careers are built here, families raise their children here because the University of Miami is here. So, again, congratulations – and thank you for being a community of teachers and scholars and such an important part of this South Florida community.
While the ancient Greeks had their academies, the modern university system we know today has its roots in the European medieval university, which evolved from cathedral schools reaching back into the 6th century – and they were run by priests and nuns. So, it would not be untrue to say that universities were in fact invented by the Catholic Church. But don’t let that intimidate you when you face Notre Dame in August.
But the fact that we can trace the origins of universities back to the Catholic Church shows that, at least for us, Catholics, the wisdom that comes from revealed faith and the wisdom that comes from human learning are not necessarily incompatible as is sometimes thought in this postmodern age in which we live. Roger Bacon, the inventor of the scientific method itself, was a Franciscan friar.
Often, we find those who feel that they must deny reason for the sake of their faith: faith for these people at best is reduced to empty sentimentality; at worst, a facile justification for murderous ideologies.
And just as often, we can find those - especially among the denizens of the ivied halls of academia - who feel that they must deny faith for the sake of reason. Reason for these people is reduced to vain pedantry and conceited sophistry.
But to quote Joseph Ratzinger, a man who was known for his scholarship long before he became Pope Benedict XVI: “Anyone who excludes God from his horizons falsifies the notion of reality and can only end up in blind alleys or with recipes for destruction.”
To oppose faith and reason is to create a false dichotomy. As Catholics, we believe that truth is one. In that sense, there can be no real contradiction between belief and science, between faith and reason. The so-called “contradictions” that some would allege are only apparent ones that can be resolved through honest and reasonable inquiry.
The Church, as she has done throughout her history, wishes that her faith, through reasoned dialogue, will shape the culture in which she lives so that the culture may become more worthy of man. This is why throughout her history the Church has promoted the speculative and practical sciences involved in the educational project.
So, we believe in both the value and power of faith and the value and power of reason. Pope St. John Paul II said: “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.”
This also explains why Catholic Campus Ministry is here at the University. And, if the University of Miami is a great amenity in broader community, Catholic Campus Ministry – with its expanded facilities – is a great amenity to the University – to its faculty and its students. The Catholic Student Center provides a sacred space where students can pray, ask big questions, encounter Christ, and grow in community. It’s a place where the heart is formed as much as the mind—a beacon of faith, of hope, of identity in Christ.
And so, academia and the Church are not rivals, we are not competitors, but we are partners in the mission of what “higher education” is about; namely, that the purpose of an education is not just so that we can “get more” but to help us “be more”, to just to equip is to do well but also to do good.
The Scripture readings today set the scene as it were for the events we will celebrate next week, Holy Week. Jesus’ enemies want to stone him because they continue to accuse him of blasphemy; yet, at the same time, many ordinary people sought him out and began to believe in him. Our Jewish friends are celebrating Passover – from slavery in Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land. We too are invited to “exodus” – to come out of ourselves, and to Passover from death to life, from the bondage of sin to the freedom of the Sons of God, from despair to hope.
This is certainly a “graced” time to celebrate your centennial: may you remember the past with gratitude, embrace the present with enthusiasm, and look to the future with confidence.
